Rep. Sarah Davis fighting to retain seat again — this...

1of7The front lawn of Jeanne and Michael Maher displays yard signs for U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, an El Paso Democrat running for Senate, and Republican state Rep. Sarah Davis, who is seeking re-election in House District 134.Photo: Jasper Scherer

3of7House District 134 Democratic nominee Allison Lami Sawyer, poses for a photo outside her headquarters office on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018 in Houston. Lami Sawyer is the challenging state Rep. Sarah Davis, a moderate Republican who has represented the area for four terms.Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

To understand how Republican state Rep. Sarah Davis plans to survive a possible Democratic blue wave in her House district, consider the front lawn of Jeanne and Michael Maher.

Like several others in theirneighborhood near West University Place, the Mahers have staked yard signs in front of their house for two political candidates of opposing parties: U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the El Paso Democrat running for Senate, and Davis, a moderate, pro-choice conservative.

“It is a Republican-dominated Legislature, it will continue to be a Republican-dominated Legislature, and I would like to have someone who would be pulling some of the Republicans in the other direction,” Michael Maher said, explaining his support for Davis.

The 65-year-old Rice University energy researcher described himself as a moderate unmoored by party affiliation.

Background: Raised by a single mother in Alabama, aspired from a young age to start a tech company. Moved to Houston in 2007 to get MBA, start a company. First time seeking elected office.

Key quote: “The No. 1 thing you can do to help women and children in this state is to expand Medicaid. We are leaving so much money on the table by not expanding Medicaid.”

House District 134 (2016 Census data)

70 percent Anglo voting age population

24 percent of households had annual incomes of $200,000 or more

The district per capita income almost three times the statewide average

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If the blue wave does washover Texas, Davis might be the Republican best equipped to withstand it. She represents a swing district in an affluent section of Houston that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2014.

After weathering a rough primary election in which she was called too liberal by Abbott, Davis is now being faulted by her Democratic challenger, Allison Lami Sawyer, forsupporting conservative-backed legislation such as Senate Bill 4, the anti-“sanctuary cities” law.

Sawyer, 33, promises in her campaign slogan to make “evidence based decisions.” She acknowledges the unconventional nature of the phrase, but contends that it will play well with the district’s highly educated and politically engaged voters. In 2016, 70.2 percent of registered voters in the district turned out, a higher rate than all but two other Texas House districts.

“My main problem with (Davis) is that she doesn’t make decisions based on evidence. She makes decisions based on what’s going to make her the most money or keep her in power,” said Sawyer, co-founder of a company that develops gas leak-detecting cameras used on oil installations.

During her Republican primary, Davis knocked off Susanna Dokupil, who was backed by Abbott. The governor opposed two other Republican incumbents, but seemed to focus his attention on Davis, making six-figure TV ad buys against her.

Davis won the primary soundly, by a 12 percentage-point margin.

Now, in an election cycle that could produce strong Democratic turnout in November, Sawyer arguably presents a more dangerous threat than even an Abbott-backed Dokupil.

Yet after serving four terms, Davis, 42, is well known in her district, which encompasses the Texas Medical Center, Southside Place, Bellaire, Rice University and West University Place, where she lives. She has been re-elected three times by comfortable margins, winning by 9 and 10 points in 2012 and 2016, respectively, and a whopping 22 points in 2014. (Republicans tend to fare better in midterm years, when turnout is lower.)

This year, however, Democrats near the top of the ballot will likely boost Sawyer’s chances, with O’Rourke and 7th Congressional District candidate Lizzie Fletcher running competitive races. Davis is aiming to pull some of those voters to her side.

“I really believe that I am very reflective of the district that I represent,” she said. “I don't ever have to worry about pandering to one small group of people. That allows me to be exactly who I am, and to vote the way that I think my district supports.”

‘Making Texas more blue’

To Sawyer, the long odds of turning her entrepreneurial vision into a full-fledged company mirrors the electoral challenge she and other Texas Democrats face.

Her company, Rebellion Photonics, started with a business plan for a camera that can film things undetectable to the human eye.

She started the company with the Rice University graduate student who invented the camera, Robert Kester. After eight years as CEO, Sawyer stepped down to let Kester run the company while she runs for office.

“Making Texas more blue rings true to me in the exact same way that starting Rebellion did — it feels impossible and will take a long time but is utterly the right thing for Houston,” she said.

Sawyer has lived in Houston for more than a decade, but until last year lived outside District 134. She and her husband, Steven, claim a homestead exemption on a property in District 148; she moved into a condo in the district to run for office. Sawyer says she’s “not ashamed” of renting the condo so she could run against Davis, because it’s “totally legal.”

If she beats Davis, Sawyer wants to repeal the anti-“sanctuary cities” law. She also wants to devote more state funding to public schools and expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. And she would introduce legislation to ban what she calls “baby jails,” referring to shelters where unaccompanied immigrant minors are detained.

Sawyer said some Democrats who voted for Davis in prior elections have told her they won’t support Davis again because of the SB 4 vote.

“For most progressives and a lot of independents in my district, that was a step too far,” Sawyer said, calling the law “racist.”

Davis defended her vote, saying she thinks law enforcement should be required to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “detainers.” As for a controversial amendment allowing police to question a person’s immigration status during routine stops, Davis noted she was in conference committee when the amendment reached a floor vote in the House.

She said she would have voted against the amendment if present, though she did vote for the final bill, which included the amendment and passed on a party line vote.

“I do not believe our police should be immigration officers,” Davis said. “That's not what they're trained to do. But checking with ICE to see if someone they've got in their jails is wanted by ICE, that should be standard protocol and I have no problem defending that.”

Davis pledges renewed push for ethics reform

In a year when many Texas Republicans are opting to drive up turnout among their conservative base rather than appeal to the middle, Davis is running as an unabashed moderate, seeking Democratic and independent votes. One of her campaign mailers, framed by red borders around a blue center, touts her “independent leadership with results” and does not identify her as a Republican.

"There's no campaign literature or campaign speech that I give in the primary that I could not turn around and say the exact same thing in the general,” Davis said. “Because it's really important to me, actually, to campaign to the widest possible audience.”

Davis, chairwoman of the House Committee on General Investigating and Ethics, said she would pursue the same ethics agenda that Abbott declined to take up during last year’s special session. She is considering folding her proposals into an omnibus ethics bill.

Notably, Davis supports the idea of re-upping a measure introduced by state Rep. Lyle Larson, a San Antonio Republican whom Abbott also targeted, that would bar the governor from appointing donors who give a certain amount of money to his campaign. Abbott has denied that he makes appointments based on campaign contributions, and through a spokesman accused Davis and Larson of “showboating.”

Last year, Davis sought to bar state lawmakers from accepting contributions during special sessions, a practice that is already illegal during regular sessions.

To fend off her primary challenger, Davis spent more than $600,000 in campaign funds in the first two months of the year. But with a well-funded campaign, she reported $118,000 cash on hand at the end of June, giving her a big edge over Sawyer’s $21,000.

Sawyer expects backing from outside groups like Annie’s List — who she said recruited her to run — and Flippable, a national organization that supports Democrats.

Davis said she is ready for the challenge.

“At the end of the day, this district is just so unique that I could very easily see a blue wave scenario in which some of our statewides lose this area, but others not,” Davis said. “My constituents, they pick up and down the ballot.”

Jasper covers City Hall, local politics and breaking news for the Houston Chronicle through the Hearst Journalism Fellowship program. He previously covered Bexar County and local politics for the San Antonio Express-News. Jasper graduated from Northwestern University in 2017 with degrees in journalism and political science. He has interned for the Tampa Bay Times, Washington Post and Fortune magazine.